Efficacy of Tactile Cues from a Limited Belt-Area System in Orienting Well-Rested and Fatigued Pilots in a Complex Flight Environment; Final rept

摘要

In the years 2003-2005 the U. S. military lost in excess of $500M and 30 lives per year due to SD mishaps, over half of which involved brownout. Current standard Army aircraft cockpit displays do not provide drift information leaving the pilot guessing as to the direction and magnitude of the aircraft's drift vector when close to the ground. This information is critical to the safe landing of helicopters in brownout or whiteout conditions. This effort tested a system that provides drift information through the tactile sense (8 tactors placed every 45 degrees) via a belt around the waist. The belt was worn by pilots flying the USAARL UH-60 helicopter with vision restricted to the instrument panel only, the same pilots flew a repeated series of maneuvers close to the ground with and without the system before and after 37 hours of fatigue. The pilot's performance was significantly better using the belt than without in both rested and fatigued conditions. The TSAS-Lite system used in this study demonstrated that a limited tactile display can provide increased mission effectiveness and safety in the critical areas of low speed maneuver near the ground in degraded visual conditions. The system also has the potential to increase a pilot's situational awareness and reduce both the perception of drift and the overall mental stress of flight in this challenging environment.